Predators, or Yautja, are extraterrestrial hunters who possess advanced technology and weapons used to hunt any being they consider worthy prey. They often make trophies of their victims after killing them, and are often known to hunt for sport on Earth, seeing humans as easy prey that are plentiful in numbers.

Origin

Predators (Yautja by their native tongue) are humanoid aliens from the planet Yautja Prime. They are known on Earth (by few people) for their advanced technology, joy for hunting and their crude, inhuman ways of killing people (skinning people alive and hanging them with string, or removing the head of their victims with the spinal cord still attached).

Predators came to Earth and discovered the ancient people of Earth, mainly the Aztecs. The Aztecs worshiped them as gods and they were taught how to build pyramids for them. Some of these pyramids were used for holding Xenomorphs for the Predators to hunt as a right of passage. If the aliens proved to be too great for the Predators, the Predators would detonate a giant explosive that would kill all of the surviving aliens in order to keep them from overrunning the Earth.

Predators still come to Earth to continue to hunt on Earth, hunting everything from humans, wildlife, or xenomorphs in ritual pyramids. Hunting in almost every environment, from cities, forest, deserts, warzones, the artic, etc.

Hunter's Code

Most predators follow a strict code whenever they are hunting prey, no matter what it might be. Whenever they are hunting on Earth, they try to avoid killing pregnant females, children, and those who are physically weak like the elderly or people with severe health problems. They will make exceptions if they feel that they will make worthy prey or if they make threatening gestures at the Predators. Two notable examples from the films is when a Predator in Predator II almost killed a male child who pointed a toy gun at a cloaked Predator or when the rich and elderly Mr.Charles Weyland was killed in Predator vs. Alien after he attacked a Predator with a makeshift flamethrower, after the Predator had looked him over and discovered that Weyland was weak and suffering from a terminal disease.

Predators will try to make sure they are evenly matched with their prey, often hunting with the barest and most basic hunting essentials. A good example of this would be in the original Predator movies. The Jungle Hunter disarmed himself to face Dutch in hand to hand combat . If someone like a human challenged a Predator to a fist fight or sword fight, the Predator would most likely accept the challenge and fight them under the challenger's conditions. The Predators place great pride in following the hunter's code and breaking the code would most likely cause them to be shunned and severely punished within the Predator society.

These Predators are called Bad Bloods. They kill not for the hunt, but just for the satisfaction of killing. They're hunted down by other Predators in order to end the heresy.

Any human or similar species who manage to beat and/or kill a predator in a hunt usually receive a trophy or prize for their achievement. Predators are willing to work with their prey in order to defeat a much greater threat like a Predalien but when the greater threat is killed, the truce between the hunter and prey usually dissolves and the Predator may continue with his/her hunt.

If a Predator loses in the hunt and is about to be killed, is mortally wounded, or has been completely defeated by its prey, it will attempt to commit suicide via an extremely powerful explosive device located on its forearm. The explosive device does not usually detonate immediately, giving the prey a short amount of time to try to escape the blast radius. If the explosive device is damaged and becomes unusable, the Predator will find other means to commit suicide, even if it means using it own hunting equipment.

Weapons & Equipment

Predators are masters at a wide variety of melee and ranged weapons. They see in infrared and are much bigger and stronger than humans, standing at about seven feet tall. Some of their known weapons include a shoulder-mounted laser cannon known as a Plasma Caster, numerous wrist gauntlets, a retractable spearblade/staff known as a Combi-Staff or Combi-Stick, throwing disks that can cut through almost anything called Smartdiscs, and nets of thin mesh that can cut through the trapped foe. All of their blades have been shown to easily cut through steel doors and tank armor.

They have beyond human intelligence levels. Their suits have a chameleon power that allows them to turn nearly invisible, showing only a faint outline. These suit are the holding place for all their weapons as well as the bomb and survival gear kits. They are unsurpassed as hunters and evidence suggest they hunt many kinds of giant alien monsters and possibly hunted even the dinosaurs.

It is unknown how long the Predators have possessed their advanced technology, since they have been using it since well before the Ancient Egyptian era on Earth. However, it is safe to assume that the Predators did not always possess the technology that they have had for centuries as it would technically be impossible. Although, there are only a few sources that display their most advanced pieces of technology while we've seen just their standard hunting gear throughout most of the franchise. Therefore it may be quite difficult to determine how long they've had their most truly sophisticated pieces of weaponry and technology.

Physical Stats

The Yautja have shown very consistent feats in strength, speed, and durability. Most commonly, ripping the heads, and spines out of humans. Or adolescent Yautja easily crumpling thick metal security doors with bare hands, flipping bison around, and etc..

As far as speed goes, they possess incredibly bullet-dodging capabilities. But as stated in Predator: Cold War, they have to see their prey shooting at them. If someone flanked a Yautja's side, and the Yautja didn't know; it will get hit. However, this contradicts with another technical bullet-dodging feat of a soldier armed with a sniper who aimed perfectly at a Yautja, but only its reflexes were just too incredible that he thought it would dodge the bullets anyway, despite the Yautja was unaware of his presence. Nevertheless, they possess multiple feats of dodging and evading barrages of military grade and futuristic gunfire from close to point blank range with ease! Durability, the Yautja have shown to be semi resistant to bullets in the films. In Predator 2 the City Hunter was shot 7 times in the chest with a shot gun. It lived, and continued to fight. But later had to preform medical attention on itself. While in various comics and novels they've shown similar and even more impressive feats. Such as taking 3-4 hellfire missiles with very minor injuries (cuts and blood wounds) and live through a beating from an Xenomorph Queen.

Ranks

Young Blood

The basic Predator, young and inexperienced. They are sent on a hunting party, usually in packs of three. Much like AVP or Aliens vs. Predator 3 (game). They hunt down Hard Meat which is slang the Yautjas use for Xenomorphs. As Broken Tusk has stated in Prey, they can be reckless resulting in their deaths, but the ones that focus will live on to hunt.

Blooded

The next rank up. This is when the Yautja have successfully killed a xeno and mark themselves with the warrior symbol. This is a right of passage to the Yautja. At that point the Yautja will hunt other prey across the galaxy.

Elite

This rank is well respected, the challenge they must endure is an honor to be apart of. In Aliens vs. Predator 3 (Game) it shows that to become an Elite they must face hordes of Hard Meat in a pit like arena. After the Blooded predator completes this challenge they're elites. When an elite hunts(stated by Broken Tusk) they challenge themselves by bringing few weapons into the hunt.

Other Media

Novels

Predator: Flesh And Blood - Humans have all but destroyed the Earth, creating an opportunity for unscrupulous moneymakers to take advantage of the destruction. One family, the Ciejek clan, have made their fortune exploiting Earth's misfortunes. But with power comes corruption. The members of the Ciejek clan are at each other's throats, enlisting the help of the fearsome Predators to settle the score . . . When the Predators arrive, however, the brutality the warriors unleash is far beyond what the Ciejek family could have imagined.

Written by: Michael Jan Friedman & Robert Greenberger

Publication Date: September 19, 2007

Format: Novel, 250 pages, 4" x 6"

Predator: Forever Midnight - The year is 2117, A.D. Humanity has seized the stars, using reverse-engineered alien technology to explore the far reaches of space. For a hundred years the Predators, sadistic extraterrestrial hunters, have been a dim memory. For a hundred years, we've been safe.That ends now.

Cast in daylight for years at a time, the almost eternally lit jungle planet known as Midnight is the home to more than a thousand colonists, explorers building a haven on a new world. But the settlers aren't alone. The Predators have been on this planet all along. When the ravenous creatures attack an arriving spacecraft and capture the settlers as both slaves and prey for their hunt, terraforming the planet takes a back seat to a new fight for survival.

Written By: John Shirley

Publication Date: May 10, 2006

Format: MM PB, 250 pages, 4 3/16" x 6 3/4"

Predator: South China Sea - On a remote South China Sea island, a deadly hunt is underway . . . but not the kind of expedition the participants expected. In this remote jungle-covered island somewhere between Thailand and Indonesia some of the most exotic animals in the world have been gathered as the prizes in a challenge of human against nature. The hunters come from all walks of life: a South African arms dealer, a Romanian ex-wrestler, two former KGB agents, a wildlife TV host, a Thai pirate, and John Gustat, a billionaire with a mysterious past. Each has come to the island for personal reasons, some secret, some deadly. But when the encampment's owner, ex-Khmer Rouge Colonel Rath Preap, finds the fences cut and his security men missing, it's clear that the game has turned. And as the hunters battle for survival, they discover there is another creature out for blood--a Predator with an unstoppable lust for conquest.

Written By: Jeff VanderMeer

Publication Date: October 08, 2008

Format: b&w, 288 pages, Novel, 4 3/16" x 6 3/4"

Predator: Turnabout - Deep in the Alaskan forest, ranger Sloan comes across the torn and bloody carcasses of Grizzly bears. Searching a human cause for the massacres, he discovers a team of poachers hunkered within the Alaska wilderness, waiting for the chance to score a big kill. He also finds evidence of the most fearsome killers in the universe: the Predators.

Written By: Steve Perry

Publication Date: March 19, 2008

Format: SC, 256 pages,Novel, 4 3/16" x 6 1/4"

Movies

The Predator has been featured in many movies, starting from 1987 throughout 2010, with an upcoming sequel due to arrive in 2018.

Predator (1987)

Predators were originally introduced in the 1987 action hit Predator, directed by John McTiernan and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as US Special Forces Major Alan "Dutch" Schaefer. Jean Claude Van Damme was initially cast as the Predator but eventually left the project.

In the movie, Dutch leads a team of Special Forces operatives in a rescue mission within the jungles of the fictional Latin American nation Republic of Val Verde. Unbeknownst to them, a lone Predator called the Jungle Hunter had landed in Val Verde with the intent of hunting humanity's finest warriors for sport. The Jungle Hunter continued to stalk the team as they attack a group of Val Verde's rebel guerrilla fighters. While heading for their helicopter, the team quickly discover that something was amiss and soon after, the Jungle Hunter began to brutally kill the soldiers one by one. Finally, Dutch was the only member of the team left alive and manage to maneuver the Jungle Hunter by covering himself in mud and masking himself from its heat vision while ensnaring it with various traps before engaging it in hand-to-hand combat. Dutch mortally wounds the Jungle Hunter only for it to activate an explosive device on its wrist in a suicide attempt. Dutch quickly leaves the blast radius and is left the lone survivor of the encounter.

The movie was a critically acclaimed commercial success, which marked the beginning of the Predator franchise consisting of film sequels, comics, and novels.